Sewing machine



Feb. 4, 1941. w. 'r. LEONARD SEWING MACHINE Filed June 10, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 0 e R 4 w o N T 0 \n. m 5 V m u 7 m M w w M W W. T. LEONARD Feb. 4, 1941.

SEWING MACHINE Filed June 10, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ALI/7M TAgomaeo Mbr ATTO R N EY-S Feb. 4, 1941. w. T. LEONARD SEWING MACHINE Filed June 10, 19159 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR I/V/L L 642M 7? L EON/416D ATTQRN EYS W. T. LEONARD SEWING MACHINE Feb. 4,-1941 Filed June 10, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR T; L so/vaeo ATTORNEYS named Feb.4,1941 2,230,497,

NHTED STATE SPATET FFECE sswmc MACHINE William T. Leonard, Reading, Pa., assignor to S. Liebovitz & Sons, Inc., Myerstown, Pa,- a corporation of New York Application June '10, 1939, Serial No. 278,396

9 Claims. (01. 112-132) This invention relates to improvements in a which comprisesa bed plate it above which is sewing machine and has particular reference to mounted the needle H and associated presser a shirring mechanism and control therefor. foot l2 beneath which the fabric is fed during In my co-pending application Serial No. the stitching operation. The fabric feeding 213,150, filed June 11, 1938, there is disclosed mechanism of the machine is conventionally in- 5 a shirring mechanism, both the operation and dicated at l3 and, in accordance with the usual stopping of which are under the manual control practice, is controlled from the shafts M and iii. of an operator. Sewing machines such as used In accordance with the present invention, the for commercial purposes are capable of performlatter shaft, which is known as the roclnng lift ing at a very high rate of speed approximating shaft, is also utilized to operate the shirring 10 four thousand stitches a minute. Therefore, mechanism and the control therefor. during the operation of the machine it is difli- As shown, the operating parts of the shirring cult for the operator to always accurately time mechanism are supported beneath the bed plate the stopping of the shirring. operation in order 10, while the shirring member or blade H5 is to obtain a desired number of plaits or gathers mounted above said plate for cooperating with 15 in a fabric being stitched. the needle ll, said blade being adjustably se- In order to overcome this difficulty the prescured to a carrier I1 pivotally mounted upon ent invention provides an improved control for an oscillatory crank [8 the upper end of which the shirring mechanism whereby the-same is projects through an opening [9 in the plate I0.

automatically thrown out of operation after a A spring 20- coiled about the pivot of the carrier 20 predetermined number of plaits have been and having one end engaging a pin 2| thereon, formed thereby. a y es the shirring member it toward In accordance with one of the features of the its operative position. In the retracted or ininvention, a shaft, which is utilized in the opoperative position of the member l6, one end of eration of the fabric feeding mechanism of the the carrier I! is engaged under a bracket 22 25 sewing machine, is also employed to operate a mounted on the bed plate Ill. As the crank l8 device for controlling the number of plaits made is swung toward the needle H said carrier beby the shirring mechanism. I comes disengaged from the bracket and the shir- The inventive idea involved is capable of rering blade I6 is lowered to engage-the fabric ceivin a variety of expressions one of which, and form a plait therein. Then, upon move- 30 for purposes of illustration, is shown in the ment of the crank. 18 in the opposite direction accompanying drawings whereinthe rounded rear end of the carrier will engage Figure 1 is a bottom plan view of the shirbeneath the free end of the bracket 22 which ringmechanism and control therefor, with the acts to elevate the shirring blade to its inoperparts in inoperative position. ative position as shown in Figure 4. The lower 35 Figure 2 is a top plan view, partly broken end of the crank I8 is mounted upon a rock away and shown in section, with the shirring shaft 23 supported in a bearing 24.secured to mechanism and its control in operative position. the bottom of the bed plate In, and the end of Figure 3 is a front elevation partly broken the shaft remote. from the crank it carries go away and shown in section. a connection 25 by means of which said shaft 40 Figure 4 is an end elevation partly broken is joined to the operating parts of the shirring away and shown in section, and illustrating the mechanism in such manner that when the latter shirring member in association with the needle is ct eth Shaft 23 W e, rocked to oscillate of the machine. t e Crank I8.- Figure 5 is a section taken substantially on As previously stated, the shirring mechanism 45 the line 5-5 of Figure 1. is operated from the rock shaft I5 which also Figure 6 is a section taken substantially on controls the fabric feeding mechanism l3 and, the line (--6 of Figure 1, and therefore, the shirring mechanism will always Figure 7 is an elevation, partly in section, operate in synchronism with said feeding mech- 00 of the control device by means of which the anism so that the needle of the machine will number of plaits formed by the shirring mechastitch a plait after it has been formed by the nism is regulated. shirring blade l6. Although the shirring meche The present invention is capable of being used anism is controlled from the continuously driven and is illustrated in conjunction with a. standshaft Hi, the arrangement of the parts is such and type of single needle lock-stitch machine that when no plaits are to be formed in the fabric 5 being stitched, the control for said mechanism is ineffective to transmit oscillations to the crank l8 whereby the shirring blade will be operated. This inoperative position of the shirring mechanism is illustrated in Figure 1. When the mechanism is manually actuated, in the manner to be described, to initiate the operation of the shirring blade, the parts then assume a position shown in Figure 2 wherein the motion of the shaft |5 is transmitted to the rock shaft 23 so as to oscillate the crank I8. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the shirring mechanism comprises a connecting rod 26 at one end of which a crank assembly 21 joins the same to the rock shaft |5, while a similar assembly 28 at the other end of the rod 26 connects the same to one end of a control member generally indicated at 29. This member 29 is pivoted adjacent its other end, as at 30, to the lower side of the bed plate l9 and is provided in its under surface with an elongated slot 3|, one end of which is in vertical alignment with the pivot 30. The control member 29 is joined to the connector 25 of the rock shaft 23 through the medium of a transmission link 32 which has at its end, remote from said connector 25, a bearing 33 which extends into the slot of the control member 29. When the link 32 is in the position shown in Figure 1, wherein it is normally retained by means of a coil spring 34 connected to the bed plate, the bearing 33 is in direct alignment with the pivot 30 of the control member 29 and thus the oscillating movement transmitted to the latter member through the continuously driven connecting rod 26, will have no efiect upon the link 32, with the result that the rock shaft 23 will remain inactive. However, when the link 32 is swun about the connector 25 as a pivot to move the bearing 33 along the slot 3| to any position therein where said bearing and the pivot 30 are no longer in alignment, the oscillation of the control member 29 about its pivot 30 will result in a reciprocataing movement of the link 32 and a consequent oscillation of the shaft 23 and crank l8 to operate the shirring member. It will be apparent that the further the bearing 33 is moved along the slot 3 I, the greater will be the reciprocation of the link 32 with a corresponding increase in the amount of oscillation in the crank l8 and of the shirring member 6 whereby the size of the plaits will be varied.

The operating means for adjusting the link 32 relative to the control member 29 is under the manual control of the operator of the machine, and comprises a lever 35 pivoted to the bed plate at 36 and normally held in the inoperative position of Figure 1 by means of a coil spring 31 which has one end connected to the bed plate and the other end to the said lever 35. At the end of said lever adjacent to which the spring 31 is connected the same has joined thereto a flexible element, such as a chain 38, which extends over a pulley 39 journalled in a bracket 40 attached to the underside of the bed plate l0. Said chain extends downwardly from the pulley to a floor treadle (not shown) by means of which the operator may exert a pull upon the chain 38 which will swing the lever 35 from the position in Figure 1 to that shown in Figure 2. The amount of such swinging movement of the lever 35, which controls the degree of the movement of the link 32, is regulated by means of a rod 4| extending vertically through the bed plate l0 and provided adjacent its lower end with a pin 42 which engages one of the links in the chain 38. The upper end of the rod 4|, which extends above the bed plate I0, is screw threaded and has mounted for adjustment thereon the limiting nut 43. By reason of the connection of the rod 4| to the chain 38, it will be apparent that when the latter is pulled downwardly by depression of the operating treadle, the rod 4| will also move downwardly until the nut 43 engages the upper surface of the bed plate ID to limit such downward movement, and thereby control the amount of swinging movement of the lever 35 about its pivot 36. At a point intermediate the ends of the lever 35 the same has pivoted thereto another lever 44 provided with a recess 45 in one edge thereof which is adapted to receive a stud 46 carried by the upper surface of the link 32. The stud 46 is normally retained in the recess 45 by a yielding pressure exerted upon the lever 44 by a spring 41. Thus, through the pivotal connection of the lever 35 with the lever 44 and the engagement of the stud 46 in the recess 45, a swinging movement of the lever 35 occasioned by a pull of the chain 38 will also swing the transmission link 32 about its pivot and this movement will be limited by engagement of the nut 43 with the top of the bed plate I. The foregoing operation results in the parts being adjusted to a position such as that shown in Figure 2, whereupon the oscillation of the control member 29 will be transmitted to the shirring member to operate the same.

The shirring operation continues until the lever 44 is released from engagement with the stud 46 carried by the transmission link 32, which release is accomplished by the control device presently to be described. The release is effected by swinging the lever 44 about its pivot and when the stud 46 is disengaged, the coil spring 34 connected to the link 32 will restore the latter to the position of Figure 1 so that the operation of the control member 29 will no longer actuate the shirring member l6.

The control of the shirring mechanism whereby the same will continue to operate until a predetermined number of plaits have been formed in the fabric will now be described. Depending from the bed plate I6 is a screw bolt 48 (Figure 5) and supported upon the lower end thereof is a ratchet 49 having a central cavity in which is mounted a coil spring 5|], one end of which is secured to the bolt 48, while the other end is fastened to the ratchet, the spring operating to turn the ratchet in a clock-wise direction, as viewed in Figure 2, whereby said ratchet is yieldably maintained in the normal position of Fi ure 1. In the normal position of the ratchet 49, an angular arm 5| adjustably secured to the undersurface of said ratchet and extending upwardly therefrom is contacted by a stop 52 adjustably mounted in the bed plate ID. A portion of this stop 52 extends through an arcuate slot 53 in the bed plate and is provided at its upper end with a tightening nut 54 which is engageable with the bed plate to maintain the stop in its adjusted positions. Said stop also carries a pointer 55 which is movable over a gage 56 having graduations 51 thereon for indicating the number of operations to be performed by the shirring member. Thus, by adjusting the stop member 52 back and forth, the normal position of the ratchet 49, maintained under tension of thespring 59, is made variable. For instance, if it should be desired to increase the number of shirring operations over that accomplished in the setting of Figure 2, the stop 52 would be adjusted to the right, as viewed in said figure, so as to move the same away from the contact arm 5|. The spring 50 would then act to turn the ratchet 49 in a clock-wise direction, as viewed in Figure 2, so as to increase the time interval and, consequently, the number of shirring operations to be performed when the ratchet 49 is intermittently rotated as will presently appear.

The automatic stopping of the shirring mechanism is effected when the contact arm 5| engages the adjacent end of the lever 44 which has been projected into the path of said contact arm by the swinging movement of the lever 35, this position of the lever 44 being indicated in Figure 2. When said contact arm 5| engages the lever 44, it is rocked about its pivot to disengage itself from the stud 46 as previously described.

The control device further comp-rises a bellcrank lever 58 having a bearing 59 (Figure 5) on the bolt 48, with one end of said lever connected to a universal assembly 60 carried by one end of the connecting rod 6|, the other end of which is joined by the assembly 52 to the shaft l5, so that said bell-crank lever will be continuously operated about the bolt 48 as a pivot. The other end of the lever 58 carries a pawl 63 which is adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet 49 to step the same around when the control device is in operation, but which is held out of engagement with said teeth when no shirring operation is to be accomplished. The inoperative position of the pawl 63 is shown in Figure 1 wherein said pawl is indicated as engaging a curved guide surface of a spring pressed holding pawl 64 pivoted to a bracket 65 secured to the bed plate. In order to maintain the pawl 63 inoperative, a bellcrank lever 66 is pivotally mounted upon a bracket 61 secured to the underside of the bed plate and the long arm of said bell-crank lever is engaged by a spring 63 to maintain the extremity of said arm in engagement with the extension 69 of the pawl 63. However when the link 32 is swung to the operative position of Figure 2, a pin l0 thereon engages with a contact plate adjustably secured on the short arm of the bellcrank 65 and causes the latter to be swung about its pivot against the tension of the spring 68. The extremity of the long arm of said bellcrank is thus moved away from the pawl 63 whereupon its spring 12, together with the spring of the holding pawl 54, becomes effective to throw the pawl 63 into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet 49. At the same time, the holding pawl 64 engages said teeth tohold the ratchet against the tension of the spring 50 which would otherwise have a tendency to restore the ratchet to its normal position after it has been moved one or more steps by the operation of the bellcrank lever 58. As this lever is operated step by step through the reciprocation of the connecting rod 6|, the pawl 63 steps the ratchet 49 around in a clock-wise direction as viewed in Figure 1, and each time such a step is accomplished, the shirring mechanism is actuated by the connecting rod 26 to form a plait in the fabric. When a predetermined number of plaits have been so formed, which number is regulated by the adjustment of the stop 52, the contact arm 5| which moves with the ratchet 49, engages the end of the lever 44 in the path thereof and swings said lever so as to release it from the pin 46 of the link 32. Thereupon, said link restores to its normal position to stop further operation of the shirring blade; the spring 68 acts to swing the long armof the bell-crank 65 into contact with the extension pawl 63 so that the latter will be restored to the position of Figure 1; and holding pawl 64 is also thrown out of engagement with the ratchet 49 whereupon its spring 50 acts to restore the same to its normal position with the contact arm 5| in engagement with the stop 52.

The movement of the contact arm 5| out of engagement with the lever 44 permits the latter to move toward its normal position under the influence of its spring 41. However, at this moment the transmission link has already been moved to its normal position so that the adjacent extremity of the lever 44 will strike the pin 46 and the latter will not enter the recess 45 until the lever 35 has been restored to its normal position under the influence of the spring 31, this occurring when the operator releases pressure upon the treadle. When this is done the lever 44 is moved with the lever 35 so that the pin 45 Will enter the recess 45 and the parts will again be in their normal position ready for another shirring operation.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sewing machine, a shirring member for making plaits in a fabric, an actuating element for said member, a. continuously operating control member, a drive between said control member and actuating element adjustable to operative and inoperative positions relative to said control member, means to so adjust said drive, a regulating device for controlling the number of plaits to be formed by said shirring mechanism, means actuated by the adjustment of said drive to its operative position to initiate the operation of said regulating device, and means controlled by the latter device for releasing said drive for movement to its inoperative position when the desired number of plaits have been formed.

2. In combination, a shaft for controlling the operation of the fabric feeding mechanism of a sewing machine, a shirring member cooperating with the needle of the machine for making plaits in a fabric, an actuating element for said member, a control member continuously driven by said shaft, a drive between said actuating element and said control member adjustable to operative and inoperative positions relative to the latter, means to adjust said drive, a device driven by said shaft for regulating the number of operations of said shirring mechanism, means to energize said device when said drive is adjusted to an operative position and means to stop said regulating device when a predetermined number of plaits have been formed.

3. In a sewing machine, a shirring mechanism for making plaits in a fabric, means to operate said shirring mechanism, a normally inactive device for regulating the number of operations of said shirring mechanism, said device including an intermittently operated trip, means to initiate the operation of the operating means for said shirring mechanism, means to actuate said trip when the operation of said operating means is initiated, and a release for said operating means actuated by said trip, when a predetermined number of plaits have been formed, to stop'the operation of said operating means 4. In combination, a shaft for controlling the operation of the fabric feeding mechanism of a sewing machine, a shirring mechanism cooperating with the needle of the machine to form plaits in a fabric, means operated by said shaft for actuating said shirring mechanism, a device operated by said shaft for regulating the number of operations of said shirring mechanism, 'said'de vice including a normally inactive pawl and ratchet means, means to render the latter means active and simultaneously initiate the Operation of the actuating means'for said shirring mechanism, and means under the control of said pawl and ratchet means for stopping the operation of said shirring mechanism when a predetermined number of plaits have been formed thereby.

5. In combination, a shaft for controlling the operation of the fabric feeding mechanism of a sewing machine, a shirring mechanism cooperating with the needle of the machine to form plaits in a fabric, means operated by said shaft for actuating said shirring mechanism, a device operated by said shaft for regulating the number of operations of said shirring mechanism, said device including a normally inactive pawl and ratchet means, means to render the latter means active and simultaneously initiate the operation of the actuating means for said shirring mechanism, a trip carried by said pawl and ratchet means, and a release member actuated by said trip to effect the cessation of operation of said shirring mechanism when a desired number of plaits have been formed thereby.

6. In a sewing machine, the combination with the rocking lift shaft for operating the fabric feeding mechanism of said machine; of a shirring member cooperating with the needle of the machine to form plaits, means toactuate said shirring member including a drive element movable ated by said shaft when said element is in its operative position, a device driven by said shaft for regulating the number of plaits to be formed by said shirring member, means to initiate the operation of said device by the movement of said drive element to operative position, and means to stop said regulating device when a predetermined number of plaits have been formed.

'7. In a sewing machine, the combination with the rocking lift shaft for operating the fabric feeding mechanism of said machine; of a shirring member cooperating with the needle of the machine to form plaits, means to actuate said shirring member including a drive element movable to operative and inoperative positions and operated by said shaft when said element is in its operative position, means to releasably retain said drive element in its operative position, a device driven by said shaft for regulating the number of' plaits to be formed by said shirring member, means to initiate the operation of said device when said drive element has been moved to operative position, means to stop said regulating device when a predetermined number of plaits have been formed, and means to release said retaining means to allow return of said drive element to its inoperative position when said regulating device has been stopped.

8. In a sewing machine, a bed plate, a shirring member, a mechanism for operating said member including a continuously operated control element, a transmission member connecting said control element and shirring member and having a variable operative position to effect different degrees of movement of said shirring member in making a plait, means to vary the adjustment of said transmission member, means to determine the position to which said transmission member is to be adjusted, said means comprising a rod connected to said adjusting means and extending through said bed plate, and a stop movable to various positions on said rod and engaging said bed plate, upon actuation of said adjusting means, to limit the operation of the latter means.

9. In a sewing machine, a bed plate, a shirring member, a mechanism for operating said member including a continuously operated control element, a transmission member connecting said control element and shirring member and having a variable operative position to effect different degrees of movement of said shirring member in making a plait, means to vary the adjustment of said transmission member, means to determine the position to which said transmission member is to be adjusted, said means comprising a rod connected to said adjusting means and extending through said bed plate, a stop movable to various positions on said rod and engaging said bed plate, upon actuation of said adjusting means, to limit the operation of the latter means, a regulating device for controlling the number of plaits made after adjustment of said transmission member to one of its adjusted positions, a release for said device actuated by the adjusting means for said transmission member, means on said transmission member operable when the latter is adjusted to actuate said release, means to thereupon operate said regulating device, and means to stop the operation thereof after a predetermined number of plaits have been formed.

WILLIAM T. LEONARD. 

